菩薩訶色欲法經

The beauty of women is a fetter of the world; ordinary beings, attached to it, cannot free themselves.

The beauty of women is the great calamity of the world; ordinary beings, suffering unto death, cannot escape it.

The beauty of women is the misfortune of the world; ordinary beings who encounter it meet with every calamity.

When a practitioner has already abandoned it, should he turn his mind back to it, this is like one who, having escaped from hell, wishes to enter it again; like one who, recovered from madness, wishes to return to madness; like one who, healed of sickness, longs to be sick once more. The wise pity them, knowing that they are deranged and inverted, and that the day of their death is not far off...

Ordinary beings prize beauty and willingly become its slaves, toiling their whole lives long, and through this they suffer. Though they be cut by blade and axe, pierced by sharp points of bronze, yet they bear it willingly and do not regard it as a calamity. Like a madman who delights in his madness, they do not regard it as wrong.

If a practitioner is able to abandon it, he should not turn back to it. This is to break the fetter, to escape the shackles, to despise madness and weary of sickness, to depart from the place of calamity; having reached safety, he gains still greater good fortune, escapes from the prison, and is forever free of disaster.

The appearance and the words of a woman are like sweet honey, but her heart is like deadly poison. It is like standing and gazing at one's reflection beside a deep abyss of water, the dwelling place of water-dragons and serpents; or like a cavern of golden mountains wherein lions abide—know therefore that such a place of calamity and evil must not be approached.

Disharmony within the household arises from the wife. The ruin of the lineage and the downfall of the clan are the fault of women. Truly she is a hidden thief who destroys a person's wisdom. She is also like the hunter who lays his snares, from which there is no escape. It is like a high net into which a flock of birds falls, unable to spread their wings and fly. Again, it is like a dense net into which a school of fish swims, scraping their fins and shedding their scales; like a dark pit into which the blind man falls; like a flame into which the moth casts itself, burning its body. Therefore the wise, knowing this, keep far away, that it may not harm them; they loathe and abhor it, that it may not delude them.

THE SŪTRA OF THE BODHISATTVA REPROACHING SENSUAL DESIRE

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